Minerals
are natural compounds formed through geological
processes. The term "mineral"
encompasses not only the material's chemical
composition but also the mineral's structure.
Minerals range in composition from pure elements
and simple salts to very complex silicates with
thousands of known forms (organic compounds are
usually excluded). The study of minerals is
called mineralogy.

As
a boy I was fascinated by the shapes and colours
of crystals. One day while playing on the
beach, underneath Beachy
Head, I cracked open a large flint and was
amazed to find bright crystals inside which to
me, resembled diamonds. I also found a
large nodule of iron pyrites, which looked like
gold inside - fooled me, until I learned it was
also called "fools gold." Today,
as an engineer, I am still very much interested
in the qualities of minerals. Because I
need to know which to use to make cars and boats
perform.

Nelson
Kruschandl

Mineral
definition and classification

To
be classified as a "true" mineral, a
substance must be a solid and have a crystal
structure. It must also be an inorganic,
naturally-occurring, homogeneous substance with
a defined chemical composition. The chemical
composition may vary between end members of a
mineral system. For example the plagioclase
feldspars comprise a continuous series from
sodium-rich albite (NaAlSi3O8)
to calcium-rich anorthite (CaAl2Si2O8)
with four recognized intermediate compositions
between. Mineral-like substances that don't
strictly meet the definition are sometimes
classified as mineraloids. Other
natural-occurring substances are Nonminerals.
Industrial minerals is a commercial term and
refers to commercially valuable mined materials
(see also Minerals and Rocks section below).

A
crystal structure is the orderly
geometric spatial arrangement of atoms in the
internal structure of a mineral. There are 14
basic crystal lattice arrangements of atoms in
three dimensions in the six crystal systems, and
all crystal structures currently recognized fit
in one of these 14 arrangements. This crystal
structure is based on regular internal atomic or
ionic arrangement that is often visible as the
mineral form. Even when the mineral grains are
too small to see or are irregularly shaped the
crystal structure can be determined by X-ray
analysis and/or optical microscopy.

Chemistry
and crystal structure define together a mineral.
In fact, two or more minerals may have the same
chemical composition, but differ in crystal
structure (these are known as polymorphs).
For example, pyrite and marcasite are both iron
sulfide. Similarly, some minerals have different
chemical compositions, but the same crystal
structure: for example, halite (made from sodium
and chlorine), galena (made from lead and
sulfur) and periclase (made from magnesium and
oxygen) all share the same cubic crystal
structure.

Crystal
structure greatly influences a mineral's
physical properties. For example, though diamond
and graphite have the same composition (both are
pure carbon), graphite is very soft, while
diamond is the hardest of all known minerals.

There
are currently just over 4,000 known minerals,
according to the International Mineralogical
Association, which is responsible for the
approval of and naming of new mineral species
found in nature.

Assortment
of minerals from US Geological Survey

Minerals
and rocks

A
mineral is a naturally occurring, inorganic
solid with a definite chemical composition and a
crystalline structure. A rock is an aggregate of
one or more minerals. (A rock may also include
organic remains.) The specific minerals in a
rock can vary a lot. Some minerals, like quartz,
mica or feldspar are common, while others have
been found in only one or two locations
worldwide. Over half of the mineral species
known are so rare that they have only been found
in a handful of samples, and many are known from
only one or two small grains.

Commercially
valuable minerals and rocks are referred to as
industrial minerals.

Physical
properties of minerals

Classifying
minerals can range from simple to very
difficult. A mineral can be identified by
several physical properties, some of them being
sufficient for full identification without
equivocation. In other cases, minerals can only
be classified by more complex chemical or X-ray
diffraction analysis; these methods, however,
can be costly, time-consuming, and even risk
damaging the sample.

Physical
properties commonly used are :

Crystal
structure and habit: See the above
discussion of crystal structure. A mineral
may show good crystal habit or form, or it
may be massive, granular or compact with
only microscopically visible crystals.

Hardness:
the physical hardness of a mineral is
usually measured according to the Mohs scale
of mineral hardness.

Luster
indicates the way a mineral's surface
interacts with light and can range from dull
to glassy (vitreous).

Color
indicates the appearance of the mineral in
reflected light or transmitted light for
translucent minerals (i.e. what it looks
like to the naked eye).

Streak
refers to the color of the powder a
mineral leaves after rubbing it on an
unglazed porcelain streak plate.

Cleavage
describes the way a mineral may come apart
or cleave in different ways. In thin
section, cleavage is visible as thin
parallel lines across a mineral.

Fracture
describes how a mineral breaks when broken
contrary to its natural cleavage planes,
e.g. a chonchoidal fracture is a
smooth fracture with concentric ridges of
the type shown by glass.

Specific
gravity relates the mineral mass to the
mass of an equal volume of water, namely the
density of the material. While most
minerals, including all the rock-forming
minerals, have a specific gravity of 2.5 -
3.5, a few are noticably more or less dense,
e.g. several sulphide minerals have high
specific gravity compared to the common
rock-forming minerals.

Chemical
properties of minerals

Minerals
may be classified according to chemical
composition. They are here categorized by anion
group. The list below is in approximate order of
their abundance in the Earth's crust. The list
follows the Dana classification system.

Silicate
class

The
largest group of minerals by far are the silicates
(most rocks are >95% silicates), which are
composed largely of silicon and oxygen, with the
addition of ions such as aluminium, magnesium,
iron, and calcium. Some important rock-forming
silicates include the feldspars, quartz,
olivines, pyroxenes, amphiboles, garnets, and
micas.

Carbonate
class

The
carbonate minerals consist of those minerals
containing the anion (CO3)2-
and include calcite and aragonite (both calcium
carbonate), dolomite (magnesium/calcium
carbonate) and siderite (iron carbonate).
Carbonates are commonly deposited in marine
settings when the shells of dead planktonic life
settle and accumulate on the sea floor.
Carbonates are also found in evaporitic settings
(e.g. the Great Salt Lake, Utah) and also in
karst regions, where the dissolution and
reprecipitation of carbonates leads to the
formation of caves, stalactites and stalagmites.
The carbonate class also includes the nitrate
and borate minerals.

Sulfate
class

Sulfates
all contain the sulfate anion, in the form SO42-.
Sulfates commonly form in evaporitic settings
where highly saline waters slowly evaporate,
allowing the formation of both sulfates and
halides at the water-sediment interface.
Sulfates also occur in hydrothermal vein systems
as gangue minerals along with sulfide ore
minerals. Another occurrence is as secondary
oxidation products of original sulfide minerals.
Common sulfates include anhydrite (calcium
sulfate), celestite (strontium sulfate), barite
(barium sulfate), and gypsum (hydrated calcium
sulfate). The sulfate class also includes the
chromate, molybdate, selenate, sulfite,
tellurate, and tungstate minerals.

Halide
class

The
halides are the group of minerals forming
the natural salts and include fluorite (calcium
fluoride), halite (sodium chloride), sylvite
(potassium chloride), and sal ammoniac (ammonium
chloride). Halides, like sulfates, are commonly
found in evaporitic settings such as playa lakes
and landlocked seas such as the Dead Sea and
Great Salt Lake. The halide class includes the
fluoride, chloride, and iodide minerals.

Oxide
class

Oxides
are extremely important in mining as they form
many of the ores from which valuable metals can
be extracted. They commonly occur as
precipitates close to the Earth's surface,
oxidation products of other minerals in the near
surface weathering zone, and as accessory
minerals in igneous rocks of the crust and
mantle. Common oxides include hematite (iron
oxide), magnetite (iron oxide), chromite
(chromium oxide), spinel (magnesium aluminium
oxide - a common component of the mantle),
rutile (titanium dioxide), and ice (hydrogen
oxide). The oxide class includes the oxide and
the hydroxide minerals.

Sulfide
class

Many
sulfides are economically important as
metal ores. Common sulfides include pyrite (iron
sulfide - commonly known as fools' gold),
chalcopyrite (copper iron sulfide) and galena
(lead sulfide). The sulfide class also includes
the selenides, the tellurides, the arsenides,
the antimonides, the bismuthinides, and the
sulfosalts (sulfur and a second anion such as
arsenic).

Phosphate
class

The
phosphate mineral group actually includes
any mineral with a tetrahedral unit AO4
where A can be phosphorus, antimony, arsenic or
vanadium. By far the most common phosphate is
apatite which is an important biological
mineral found in teeth and bones of many
animals. The phosphate class includes the
phosphate, arsenate, vanadate, and antimonate
minerals.

Element
class

The
Elemental group includes metals and
intermetallic elements (gold, silver, copper),
semi-metals and non-metals (antimony, bismuth,
graphite, sulfur). This group also includes
natural alloys, such as electrum (a natural
alloy of gold and silver), phosphides, silicides,
nitrides and carbides (which are usually only
found naturally in a few rare meteorites).

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